Whidbey SAR saves mountain hiker

Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Brent McIntyre, assigned to Whidbey Island Naval Air Station search and rescue team, performs an assessment during a training evaluation in July.

A 47-year-old man was rescued from rocky terrain near Snoqualmie Pass Thursday by a search-and-rescue team from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.

The rescue took place at about 11:30 p.m.

The man fractured his right leg while hiking at an elevation of 4,800 feet south of Snoqualmie Pass on Silver Peak Mountain.

King County Search and Rescue Deputy Peter Linde, who helped coordinate the rescue with the NAS Whidbey Island team, said Tuesday the injured man was from the Seattle area. He was hiking with a group from work when the injury occurred.

NAS Whidbey Island Operations Duty Office was notified of the incident around 9 p.m. and arrived on scene just after 10:15 p.m.

After arriving on scene, Petty Officers 2nd Class Timothy Hawk and Brent McIntyre lowered a litter and rappelled to the scene to retrieve the injured hiker. King County Sheriff’s Office Mountain Rescue was already on scene and assisted with the rescue pickup.

“Mountain Rescue was on scene and they were extremely helpful in preparing the injured hiker for transport,” McIntyre, a hospital corpsman, said in a news release from Homeport Northwest.

“We had to move the hiker about 100 yards on a litter up some very steep and rocky terrain to a location more suitable for a hoist recovery.”

While overall visibility was mostly clear, it was still a challenge to find an ideal pickup point, according to Lt. Leah Tunnell, the helicopter aircraft commander.

“There were low clouds in the area throughout the valleys, but the location for rescue was clear,” Tunnell said in a news release. “The terrain was extremely steep and rocky, with downflowing winds over a western ridgeline that limited the locations for a hoist recovery.”

After hoisting the injured man aboard the MH-60S Knighthawk, the SAR crew flew him to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and arrived home safely at 12:45 a.m.

In addition to Tunnell, McIntyre and Hawk, a naval aircrewman, the other crew members on the rescue team were Lt. Cmdr. Fred Morrison, the aircraft co-pilot, and Naval Aircrewman Helicopter Second Class Melissa Dixon, the crew chief.

Linde said that rescues in Snoqualmie Pass, as well as hiking trails up and down Interstate 90, are very common this time of year, but the NAS Whidbey Island team is called in when additional resources for the rescue are necessary.

The rescue fortuitously follows training performed by the NAS Whidbey search-and-rescue team just the day before in and around Oak Harbor.

On July 17, the team underwent intense training required for their search and rescue evaluation, and also to live up to their motto of “So Others May Live.”

This year, NAS Whidbey’s search-and-rescue team has performed two medical evacuations, five rescues and two search missions.

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